Head of Key Technical Initiatives & Sales Innovation

Adobe•San Jose, CA

17h•Hybrid

About The Position

Adobe's Technical Pre-Sales (TPS) organization is building its next frontier of enterprise sales innovation. As AI reshapes how companies buy and deploy technology, Adobe is investing in a dedicated leader to identify, incubate, and scale the technical sales motions that will define how Adobe wins the most complex enterprise deals of the next decade. We are seeking a Sr. Director to lead Key Technical Initiatives & Sales Innovation—a new, high-impact function within TPS chartered to operate at the intersection of technical strategy and commercial outcomes. This leader will run a small, agile, senior incubation team responsible for designing time-bound, high-ambiguity initiatives—from concept to maturity—then deliberately transitioning proven models into the core business. This role exists to look around corners and serve as a customer growth engine powered by technical innovation: to translate emerging technology and customer friction into new sales motions, de-risk and operationalize innovation, and hand off mature initiatives so they become business as usual. With a lean team of 8–10, this leader drives impact through influence, design, and executive partnership—not headcount.

Requirements

12–15+ years of experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives spanning Sales, Technical Pre-Sales, or Enterprise Strategy—with a proven record of turning ambiguous ideas into operational reality.
Demonstrated ability to design and operationalize new technical sales motions at scale; experience with Prove-Before-You-Buy, POC, or pilot program design is highly valued.
Strong technical fluency paired with sharp business judgment; able to credibly engage product, engineering, and sales leadership in the same conversation.
Track record of leading through influence across large organizations without direct headcount authority; thrives with limited resources and high expectations.
Outstanding executive presence and communication skills—able to represent innovation investments to C-level stake holders and senior Adobe leadership with clarity and conviction.
Experience with enterprise AI, agentic systems, or emerging technical sales capabilities as they apply to complex deal cycles.
Comfortable with ambiguity, disciplined about evidence, and willing to make difficult stop/go decisions.
Willingness to travel up to 35%.

Responsibilities

Incubation of "Change-the-Business" Technical Initiatives: Identify net-new, non-incremental opportunities where technical innovation can unlock customer explanation, faster deal conviction, platform-level adoption, and enterprise transformation narratives. Incubate initiatives that do not yet belong cleanly in TPS, Business Unit, or Sales motions—including Prove-Before-You-Buy validation motions, executive technical pilots, and new agentic, AI-led, or cross-cloud sales experiences. Create new systems rather than optimize existing ones; operate in space before a motion becomes business as usual.
Design-to-Maturity Operating Model Ownership: Own initiatives end-to-end through maturity: value proposition and intent, technical scope and guardrails, sales alignment and qualification criteria, governance, and success metrics. Design all initiatives to be time-boxed, test-and-learn oriented, and operationally transferable; define clear graduation criteria and transition plans to execution teams once proven. Maintain explicit stop/go decision authority—shut down, pivot, or double down based on evidence, not advocacy.
Enterprise Impact & Outcome Accountability: Be accountable for whether initiatives change deal outcomes, not just whether experimentation occurs. Measure impact through signals including deal velocity and conversion, technical win confidence, and platform or product pull-through. Report initiative performance and investment recommendations to executive leadership with rigor and transparency.
Cross-Functional Leadership with an Agile Team: Lead through influence, clarity, and design—not headcount; operate with intentionally lean org design while achieving Senior Director-level impact, aligning cross-functional teams to unlock customer growth, not just deliver technical solutions. Orchestrate work across Technical Pre-Sales, Product, Engineering, Partners, and Sales Leadership without creating permanent shadow organizations or duplicative delivery capabilities. Partner with existing TPS teams and field leaders to ensure innovations are adopted and scaled effectively once proven.
Executive-Level Thought Partnership: Serve as a trusted advisor to SVPs and VPs on where to invest in new sales motions, where technical risk is slowing growth, and how innovation shows up credibly in enterprise sales. Represent initiatives in executive forums and customer conversations when stakes are high. Engage regularly with senior leadership to shape prioritization and ensure the innovation portfolio is aligned to Adobe's most critical commercial priorities.